Picture Perfect Christmas

This Christmas J and I were truly spoiled and very blessed!  We had so much great family time with both sides, received so many amazing gifts and even got a white Christmas! We had a few travel hurdles getting back but are finally home! I've got to spend today getting our beach bungalow back to working order so for now I'll leave you with some fab pics!  My SIL Katie got a new camera and played photographer all weekend :) I'm so glad because this newlywed chick never remembers a camera. Detailed post coming soon...

Both sets of parents in the distance taking a walk around the property..

The barn provided some fun Christmas morning...

The kids stockings... I got one this year!!

The farm lit up at night..

A christmas eve gift! There is a story behind these festive mugs I promise....

My beautiful sister in laws...

Katie getting fancy taking pics through the front windows...love it

We had to go down to the barn Christmas morning and we found Santa sitting on the tractor! Ornaments were hanging on the tractor with clues to find our last gifts. So much fun!

                                                         

 

T2T

Todays Top 2 Tuesday is favorite board games! So fun! Head on over to Taylor's blog and link up!

     (1)

Mall Madness

 One of my favs growing up! My sisters or friends and I could play for hours! You have a shopping card you have to fulfill by shopping at the different stores in the two story mall. When you get into a store and want to buy the item you have to swipe your debit card! It either denies the purchase by saying in a surfer voice " Sorry dude,we're out of stock, try again later" or lets you buy it. Sometimes for a sale or clearance price! You also can go to the ATM and get out money...  Thinking about it now,  it's really the root of my shopping addiction. Yikes. I still won't let my parents get rid of it.

(2)

The Mexican Train Game

I don't even know how to describe this game except for it's a blast! I got snowed in at my in-laws one weekend and J, his parents and I played for hours!  It got fiercely competitive. I seriously love it! Plus, every time you make a certain play you get to push the train in the middle  and it plays a very loud

 " choooo choooo". We stopped pushing about halfway through the second game though for obvious reasons. You can only listen to " chooo chooo" so many times in one sitting!

J took me on the BEST Christmas surprise date last night and as soon as I get pics loaded I'll do a HUGE post on that! 

Hope everyones having a good Tuesday!!!

Musings of an almost Monday

  Random things on this soon to be Monday...

 * While chatting with my dad about what I should get my mom for Christmas he laughed and in his jokingly but  I'm serious voice said " finish writing your wedding thank you notes ".... point taken dad, point taken. Crossing off the FINAL 10 or so tomorrow. 

* Mailing our first Christmas cards out tomorrow also! I wasn't sure we were going to be Christmas card people but we SO are.

* Speaking of my dearest dad, every year my sisters and I normally go in for a big gift or group effort. Last year it was a record player that would play his old tunes and convert them onto a CD etc since he was always saying he wished he could listen to his records. Never opened, promptly returned. We were so very wrong haha. This year we chipped in for a big gift for him and my moms upcoming trip to Italy. It was his idea, in a not so subtle hint, so if it gets returned this year Im officially out :)  Must mail Jules the check for my portion. 

* How much laundry and how many dishes can two people go through?

* Our friend and one of J's groomsmen Chuck will be here Tuesday thru Sunday staying with us. Yah! I love visitors!!

* While having a Christmas-y date night on Saturday J and I discovered our "puppy".  We are  sooo far away from getting a dog but when we are ready to pull the trigger my dream dog is out there. Here me out...

J grew up with the sweetest Cocker Spaniel

I want a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Put them together, which we didn't know was an option, and you get a  Cockalier!

I died. 

* The heating people are coming to take a look at our non-functioning unit tomorrow. Between 12- 5. There has got to be a better way to do these appointments. Plus, it's going to be 83 degrees tomorrow so I even feel a little silly having someone fix it because we definitely don't need it!

* Note to self, bake Christmas cookies, cinnamon bread etc tomorrow btw 12 -5. 

Ok, if you haven't fallen asleep yet reading this post...

Have a great Monday!!!!

WILW

What Im loving Wednesday is here! I've found so many pictures and ideas I love lately so I'd thought I'd share since I'm loving them all....

LOVE. A bathroom or guest room will have these stripes one day...with white furniture, if you couldn't tell already

I'm LOVING chalkboard paint? I just think it's such a fun thing. Plus, if your a kid, who wouldn't love to have a full wall thats fair game whenever you get the urge to scribble.

I will be making this pillow as soon as I can get my hands on some burlap. I am LOVING anything burlap or natural looking these days. ( coming from the gal with nothing but fake greenery in her house for the holidays...oh well)

Anything My Sweet Savannah does I really LOVE. How cute is this hot chocolate station set up?

This advent calendar will be making its debut next year around here... also made by My Sweet Savanna. I wasn't kidding, I LOVE everything. Lots of little ornaments that you hang on the tree day by day to count down till Christmas. 

   I'm also LOVING that my sister Julie is coming out to visit in January. She lives in Greenwich CT and works in NYC. Before my apartment was ready in the city she let me graciously live with her for 2 weeks where we indulged on diet coke, corndog nugs, potato cones and Cosi sandwiches. It was ridiculous! I'm super super excited!!

I'm LOVING this song. Reminds me of my moh Kate. It is such a funky Christmas song but for some reason it really reminds me of my childhood? We can get into that later. Every time we would ride the train out to Long Island to see her fam we would pass through Hollis Queens. So naturally, we would quote this song ALOT. haha in fact I can't stop listening to it.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY EVERYONE!

Holiday Cheer and one big victory!

The start of the the holidays around here...

Needs a little adjusting but you get the general idea.....

See, even in Southern California we have fires at night! It's actually really cold right now. That could be in part to the fact that our heat doesn't work. Lucky me, the gas company gave me an appointment on December 13th. Really??? So until then, it's Uggs at all times for this chick.

It's a pretty quiet night around here. I've been feeling really really gross all day which means nothing got done around the house. Yikes. Luckily, the laundry machine isn't going anywhere.  J is court side at a Lakers game with some clients so I took the liberty of downloading all the good movies I could find On Demand. I discovered the 1938 classic "Holiday". Katherine Hepburn + Cary Grant + old black and white movie  = amazing. Seriously, if you haven't watched it, download it now.

PS. Why don't more people have white tie New Years Eve parties and wear formal dresses all the time anymore? Those were the days. 

Now its on to another classic, Sleepless in Seattle. Obviously that movie needs no explaining! Im pretty sure anything, and I mean anything, Nora Ephron works on I instantly love. 

On a fantastic side note, I have to give a huge shout out to my husband!!! We found out at the end of last week that he passed the California Bar exam!!!! This is no small feat my friends, really, there's like a 50% pass rate. The pure excitement and anxiety was seriously unbearable. We were nervously drinking patiently waiting with friends at our house when we found out. This idea in hindsight could have gone terribly wrong. Luckily, not the case! All three guys passed with flying colors. This made for some VERY happy wives. We were jumping, hugging, screaming, champagne was flying, wine was being spilled and it was pure madness. The firm took us all out for drinks and a nice dinner so good times were had by all! Hours of studying and thousands of notecards paid off and the victory is well deserved! To really celebrate last night, this was what J decided to do...

...... sit in front of the fire and burn thousands of study notecards in our fireplace. I was enjoying the view from the couch with a glass of wine. Which is in part to blame for the poor picture quality. It was such a relief for him to just get rid of it all. Very therapeutic. Congrats to all the new lawyers out there!

Hope everyone's having a good week!

Im back!

I am back home on the West Coast! Even though I wish the circumstances were different, I got some much needed family and friends time. We cried, we laughed and we got things done.  With Christmas like 2 weeks away, unreal btw,  us Kennedy's got the ball rolling with a Christmas day on Sunday. We decorated, decorated, shopped and decorated some more. We went to the Corona del Mar Christmas walk with some friends but unfortunately except for the beer and wine garden, it was kind of a bust. Regardless, our house is brimming with Christmas cheer. Pictures to come. We have a busy 2 weeks with a very special visitor coming to interview at Children's Hospital of Orange County, christmas parties, the Newport Beach boat parade, christmas potluck dinner with friends and lots of holiday movies to watch. Tis the season! :)  Until I can get my pics up, here are a few showing how we do it out here....

the sharp knife of a short life

   * very jumbled , long and sad post. I apologize when Im upset I tend to ramble*

     The world has lost one of the "good ones".  My friend Emily just lost her dad suddenly. I not only knew and loved him... but deeply love who he raised to be one of my absolute best friends.

First there was the initial call; here comes the shock and pacing.  He was just dancing at my wedding. She's getting married in October, he can't not be there. It's right before the holidays. Is this really happening?  Hang up the call, here comes the painful panic that I'm 3000 miles away and can't be there to hug her. Feel like my heart is going to explode. Call my parents to let them know a good family friend has passed away. Cry again when my mom lets out a yell and starts crying.  Frantic searching for plane tickets. Realizing it's a holiday and airlines make that nearly impossible. Book a ticket as quick as I can for a Friday morning direct out of LA. Feel immense guilt I can't be there sooner. I just need to get to her. Why wasn't I there immediately to hold her hand? Why is a big word in my vocab right now. Then the incredible sadness sets in. Sadness that I felt compelled to take out on a bottle and 1/2 of wine by myself at 3 in the afternoon. Not one of my prouder moments my friends. Sadness at the loss, sadness for the hearts that are breaking and sadness that I can't explain.

In true sorority fashion the troops move in. Two head directly from DC and Danville as soon as it happens, the rest gather in DC to pray and be together. Making sure she has what she needs, mobilizing people for the funeral on Saturday, cleaning, force feeding her and getting out all the details to everyone for the weekend and showing support any way we can. In a moment of such sadness there was such immense palpable love. I continue to pace in a daze and debate chartering a private plane to get there sooner. I doubt hubs would notice the small dent in the bank account right?  There as been a constant stream of people at their door in Richmond. People cherishing this life that was taken. She has the most incredible fiance. He is such a rock in her life and I thank God for giving him to her everyday. The amount of support and love this family has could run a country. They have built such relationships of love with so many people that dropped everything to help. It doesn't make it hurt less but it makes these next days a little easier.

I wouldn't know where to start when describing her dad. He was funny, so loving, genuine, hard working,  a true family man, and really, his girls lit up his life. He also made chili in the summer and for some reason this makes me laugh remembering the conversation we had about it sitting in her kitchen. He had such an amazing relationship with them. Emily and her sister are incredibly lucky. He was so so so proud of them. Not everyone gets a dad like that. Everything he did he did for them. The advice was always what they needed to hear, the voice of reason was a constant comfort and the way he loved them was never unnoticeable. Weren't we just at their house celebrating Em's nursing school graduation? Sending her sister off to her first year of college? Wasn't he just joking with me about moving to California and taking it easy on my dads pockets with the wedding? It really really kills me.

So, I'm packing my bag with a very tear stained black dress and heading East for a while. Luckily, I have an amazing husband and the flexibility to do that. I just want to be there. I just want to BE there.  To eat Five Guys with her, sing a few christmas songs, take some walks and sit/cry together. Even though I am so far away, my thoughts haven't left her side. Life will slowly and surely go on, but this will be a long road for her and her family. And you know what, for any one else that knew him.

Oddly enough, at the current moment, I am thankful. Thankful for his amazing life. Thankful he has such a beautiful family. Thankful that he knew exactly how his girls felt about him. Thankful his family knew they were deeply deeply loved. Thankful for the time I got to spend with him. Thankful for the amazing friends and family that are being a support and thankful we will get to see him again. May angels lead you in Mr. B.

Love you so much E. See you soon.

Stylish Blogger Award!

I've been given my first blog award!!! Thanks so much to Kari over at It's a Wonderful Life! Her blog is so cute and fun, go check her out!  This is so exciting for me because I have loved meeting new blogging friends and so many wonderful girls have such fabulous blogs!!! 

Here are the rules:

*thank the person that gave you the award

* tell you 7 facts about me 

*give the award to 7 fabulous bloggers that I just love

*leave a comment and tell the 7 bloggers that I am giving them an award

Facts about me!

{one}
I love puzzles. I could sit and do a 1000 piece puzzle all day. Just call me grandma.

{two}
I have to sit on the aisle of airplanes, church, movies etc. I can't stand to be sandwiched in the middle of people. It's also because I'm 5'10 and like to have leg room :)

{three}
I keep Food Network on all day. I will be doing other things around the house, blogging, etc. but its always on if the TV is.

{four}
I much prefer salty to sweet. If diet coke was taken away from me I would... well let's not talk about it.

{five}
If I have two glasses of red wine and sit on the couch to relax I will be asleep in minutes. I get it from my momma :) I promise I'm fun though!

{six}

If I could spend all day everyday cooking and baking with unlimited ingredients I would.

{seven}
Still to this day when all my sisters and I are together we normally at some point will break into singing Baby Beluga and the "I like to eat Apples and Bananas" jam song. Apparently those songs made big impacts on us when we were younger? 

Now my turn to tag 7 bloggers:

Meredith over at Mere's Flair 

Alex over at  Ruffles, Ribbons and Bows Oh My!

Natasha over at A Day in the Life

Kendall over at Keeping up with the Jones

Carie over at The Life of Carie

Brianna over at Itsy Bitsy Brianna

Paige over at Some Days You Gotta Dance


These girls are great go check them out... now!

So much fun! Hope everyone is having a great Thursday! Its almost the weekend!

T2T!

It's time for a little T2T! The weeks fly around here! 

Head on over to Taylor's blog, link up and check her out! She's going through some health things right now and could use some sweet prayers! 

Top 2 Jobs

1. Style. com

When I lived in NYC I had the chance to work for CondeNast and got to experience the magazine/fashion world. It was an amazing opportunity and I really learned a lot during my time there. It was incredibly stressful though. It was one of those jobs where you get emails at 4 am and the problem needed to be solved by 7 am. I didn't sleep very well haha. I got to do a little bit of everything. My fav was the planning. The meetings, lunch's, gallery openings and fashion show parties were so much fun to see from conception to execution. I met some amazing people and am forever thankful I went down that road. At least for a little while.

2. Kindergarten at my old Alma Mater

It was SUCH a blast when I moved back to Richmond  I got to work at my old elementary school. They were looking for a kindergarten aide and that was just what I needed! It was such a fun fun fun year. I really miss my kids, you get so attached! It's a small catholic school and I definitely loved being back and going to church, doing all the concerts, and re-living some of my youth :) The teacher I worked with got to be a good friend and she was a TRIP! The women I worked with were simply amazing and I feel very lucky that I got to hang out with them all the time. 

Hope everyone's having a great Tuesday! 

Road Runner

12:00 am. J just got back from the office, he's now sitting at our "office" desk finishing up his memo from home...apparently he can " lawyer" and dance in the seat at the same time..impressive. Yep there's my sweater wearing, bourbon drinking, air guitar-ing very musically talented husband. Gotta love him.

I however chose to take the relax on the couch path. It's past my bedtime.

Today I realized I miss running. Call me crazy ( and some of you are, I know which ones) but I really miss being super active all the time. I was always an athlete. Still am, but I consider myself retired for the time being. Today it hit me like a brick, I have GOT to start pounding the pavement again. No reason not too around here. No humidity, trails for miles on the water and some fancy under armor given to me a year ago by a bestie of mine for my birthday. Keep in mind it was a motivational tactic on her part to get me in shape for my wedding. Subtle. Around 1:00 I strapped on my shoes, downloaded a running tracker to my phone, updated my pandora stations and hit the road. Well, first I had to stop and buy new headphone because I very accidentally ruined the expensive ones J let me borrow. He definitely got more than he bargained for. I also, prematurely maybe, put a running counter on my blog here. Its to hold me accountable. If it doesn't get updated soon, I will remove it and we will never speak of it again.

I chose the back bay path today. Three miles of heaven. I decided to ease into the whole long distance thing. Get my sea legs back. And you know what? I still got em. It felt good. Not to mention I got a gnarly tan running in a tank top. I obvi stopped a few times to capture the scenery from the trail. ( Which is code for I needed to stop and catch my breath for a hot sec)

              

It was so gorgeous. The back bay is kinda btw the ocean front and the mountains.Weird sounding I know but it's 22 miles of trails plus hiking excursions galore. I saw one that was labeled " From the mountains to the sea".. maybe next time. As I was running to my country station on my phone, I crested over a hill to find....lo and behold, I do declare, a " Southern Mansion". You may not be able to tell from this pic but it was a water facing, wrap around porch wearin', balconies a blazin', american flag flyin' plantation house and all. I wish I could have gotten closer but the trail went to the right. It really put a giddy-up in my two step. Ok, I will stop with the southern cliches but as a born and raised gal from the south it made my skirt fly up as the pioneer woman would say.

It was so refreshing to get out and just run. I forgot how much I liked it. How relaxing it was. Like I said, it felt good. I figured out half of the worlds problems. I used all my remaining energy to sprint the last mile or so. I think it was all the feel good energy. That or I had already fixated my brain on an ice cold fountain DC and when that happens there is no return. 

hahaha and now I have to go, J is actually out of his seat shakin and movin dangerously close to me in the living room. Nothing like a midnight dance party right?  I'm pretty sure he just broke out a version of an irish jig. He keeps me young.  

Misc. Monday!

I'm linking up with Carissa this week for the first time over at lowercase letters! Such a fun blog!

No one and I mean NO ONE should let me near spray paint again :) I went to town this weekend hacking away and refinishing our dining room table..its now a fab white and I love it! BUT thats wasn't without a few tears and humphing around. hahah it got difficult for a while but I took care of it!

It totally smells like fall here at night, people are burning fires and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. 

I made Turkey Sausage Gnocchi Soup  for dinner on Friday and it was unreal delish. It was warm, flavorful and filling! I substituted reg sausage for the turkey bc I had some on hand, so great!

Thanksgiving is around the corner and I've got my menu board laid out and a shopping plan in place. I'm ready to tackle my first culinary domestic challenge! Please note how wine is all caps. I keep adding food to the menu daily, whoops. I'm grocery shopping a little at at time so I can stay sane.

I spent some good quality time with a great new friend L on Thursday and Friday...Sometimes you just need some coffee, girl talk, long walks and shopping. We kept each other sane waiting for Ina to sign our books and surprisingly the wait went super fast.  Minus a redic salesperson at Nordstrom our trip to South Coast was a success!

The other pics are uber blurry bc we were so excited and then the poor woman in charge of taking peoples cameras to take pics while they got their book signed couldn't work the camera on my phone. Oh well! 

 All I want to eat right now is parmesan cheese..sooo sooo weird. I have been going to the fridge and breaking off chucks all morning. Good thing I buy the real stuff in big wedges!

Lastly,
I can not stop watching millionaire matchmaker. End of story.

Happy Monday everyone!